Unemployment in Flanders continues to fall

Unemployment in Flanders fell again in January. At the end of last month there were 192,445 people unemployed and seeking work. This is 16,582 (7.9%) less than the number of job-seekers at the end of January 2018. According to the figures that were released by the Flemish Employment Minister Philippe Muyters (nationalist), 6.3% of the working population in Flanders are unemployed.

Sun 03 Feb 13:25

Unemployment in Flanders has fallen continuously since August 2015.

In January youth unemployment (those under 25) was by 8% lower than a year ago. The number of those between 25 and 50 that are unemployed has seen a year-on-year fall of 10.4%. There has been a 3.4% fall in the number of those over 50 that are seeking work. However, the rules meaning that older people have to remain available to take on jobs for longer has mean that there are currently 26.8% more over 60’s seeking work than was previously the case.

The Employment Minister said in a statement that "For 3 and a half years, since August 2015, unemployment has been falling each month in Flanders. We now have a real shortage on our labour market. We are activating our labour reserve and are investing in training and retraining”.